Virtual Library

The links on this page were created by HCPD personnel and/or members to share with you. We welcome your comments as well as any contributions of information which you might like to donate for use on this page.

Cemeteries

Slab Camp Cemeteryis located in Upshur County. It is believed to be the burial site of Henry Winemiller and his two wives, Eleanor (nee NORRIS) and Martha Permelia Fury.

Lewis County Cemeteries - You know the name of the cemetery but you aren't sure where it is located and even wonder if the person whom you are seeking is buried there. This research tool tells you what cemeteries are listed in each of the eleven volumes of cemetery listings published by HCPD and available for purchase through John Sleeth's Trading Post.

NOTICE, PLEASE READ BEFORE PROCEEDING WITH THE LINKS IN THIS CATEGORY: Many changes are occuring in West Virginia courthouses, not the least is making court records available online. This is not to imply that ALL counties now have their records online, but that is the direction in which the state is moving. If you know that some county not listed below has these records available, please notify the HCPD webmaster.

1) If you do not have Silverlight on your computer, you will need to download and install it in order to read the documents.

2) If you wish to print the record, you may need to establish an account with the Clerk of Courts in the county in which the record is located or you may contact that particular county and request that they mail it to you.

3) In Lewis County and perhaps in other counties, you will be able to access the records from 1900 to the present from the link on this page; in other cases, you may need to use a Silverlight link that should have installed directly on your desktop.

4) Some of the direct connections to the courthouses may have births, deaths and marriages. However, researchers may have more success using the WV State Archives website to research births, death, and marriages. Researchers should also remember that where both parties to a marriage were West Virginia residents, the marriage license is West Virginia was generally issued in the county of the bride's residence, i.e., when the bride is from Lewis County and the groom from Harrison County, the license will generally be applied for and issued in Lewis County.

The HCPD webmaster is not responsible for your access to the records. The webmaster has recorded them according to instructions from the various courthouses. If you have a problem with one of the links in this category, please call the courthouse involved to ascertain is there is a change or if you are not doing something correctly. If it is a problem with the HCPD website, then contact the webmaster. The same is true for your use of Silverlight. FYI, the webmaster has had her own problems using this software. (Sorry!)

Harrison County Court Minutes (1784-1792)were transcribed by Charlotte Fleming, Virginia Mosgrove, Ethel Nielson, Norman Collier, and Barbara Palmer from the onion skin translations created in WPA days (1930s) and now on file at the West Virginia Archives. We extend a special thanks to Fredrick H. Armstrong, Director at the Archives, for his assistance and to all those who helped transcribe the records.

Harrison County, now WV, Personal Property Tax Lists (1785-1825), were converted from microfilm to *.pdf format by HCPD member Robert Sigley. These records are a great way to track down persons who, for one reason or other, who do not appear on a census during that time period. . . remembering, of course, that there is no 1790 census for Virginia/West Virginia.

Lewis County, WV, Chancery Records have been indexed by Nancy Jackson. She spent many, many months going through the Chancery Records in the Lewis County Courthouse to compile this index for most of the files 1817-1851.However, she makes no guarantee that she has indexed every file therein or that all drawer numbers are exactly as given.To obtain copies of any files, you should contact the Circuit Clerk’s Office, Lewis County Courthouse, Weston, WV

Lewis County Court Records: This link includes deeds, wills, and most any other record that is filed in the Lewis County Clerk of Courts Office from 1900 to the present. You will need the Silverlight link installed on your desktop in order to access records prior to 1900.

NEW! Marshall County, WV, Court Records is a direct connection to the Marshall County Courthouse and is best used for researching deeds and will

Petition requesting the "Honourable House (to consider) a New County including the Tiger's Valley Settlement & the Settlement on the Westfork of the Monongalia and also Buckhannan's Creek Settlement. This contains the names of the earliest settlers in what would become Harrison County in 1784.

NEW!Tyler County Court Records is directly connected to the Tyler County Courthouse and is best used for resarching deed records and wills.

NEW!Wetzel County Court Recordsis directly connected to the Wetzel County Courthouse and is best used for resarching deed records and wills.

NEW!Wood County Court Recordsis directly connected to the Wood County Courthouse and is best used for resarching deed records and wills.

Family Files

As promised the Don Norman files are back in working order as of today - 1/30/2017. We definitely appreciate Don's work in making these files available to our researchers!!Don Norman has compiled information on several hundred Virginia/West Virginia families from a number of sources. While the Don Norman Files are not primary source material, they are a big help in pulling together information on a family. If you find errors or have other information to contribute, please contact the Hacker's Creek Pioneer Descendants who will forward your e-mails to Don.

This genealogy of the Conrad family of Roanoke as compiled by the late Hartzel Strader is included with this story about theMary Conrad Cabin at WVU-Jackson's Mill.

This timeline is a brief overview of historic events on the Hacker's Creek area. All events are not included here. There are numerous resources for this period of time, especially those listed below under Local History & Genealogy.

Family Stories are submitted by various members. We invite you to submit yours to the webmaster for possible inclusion in this area of our site.

History of Augusta County, Virginia, by J. Lewis Peyton was first published in 1882. Researchers should remember that most to today's West Virginia was once a part of Augusta County. This book is available in several formats for download and use on your home computer.

It is said that the Hacker's Creek area, i.e., Central West Virginia, was the furthest settlement west during the days of Indian incursions. This timeline will help identify different periods in the Central West Virginia area.

The histories of two Lewis County villages, Roanoke and Walkersville, were collected and preserved by the Agriculture Extension Service. These copies are hosted by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History on their website.

A few years ago a cousin gave a hand written paper of six pages entitled 'A View of Heaven" written by Reverent Earle Elijah Young (1822-1874). He was the son of Reverent Pascal Paola Young and Cynthia Phillips of French Creek. This was submitted by HCPD member Larry Francis.

At one time Harrison County, WV, included all or parts of today's Harrison, Lewis, Gilmer, Doddridge, Marion, Taylor and Upshur counties. The Harrison County Historical Society has documents, photos and ephemera dating back to the earliest days of settlement in the area.

The History of Ritchie County (West Virginia) with biographical sketches of its pioneers and their ancestors, and with interesting reminiscences of Revolutionary and Indian times was written by Minnie Kendall Lowther and includes some portraits and other illustrations, like a number of other West Virginia histories is now available for digital download.

A History of Tucker Countyby Hu Maxwell is great resource for studying that county and its neighoirs, It explores the history from the earliest exploration and settlement to the present time with biographical sketches of more than two hundred and fifity of the leading men and a full appendix of offical and eletional history.

The three-volume set, West Virginia and Its People, was compiled by Thomas Condit Miller and Hu Maxwell and published in 1913 by the Lewis Historical Publishing Company. HCPD member Nancy Jackson, PhD, copied 60+ pages of biographies from Volume II that might be of interest to persons researching the Central West Virginia area.

The History of West Virginia Old and New, Volume I, was compiled by James Morton Callahanin 1923. Several articles of interest to researchers of pioneer times, especially a review of all forts known to be in western Virginia, are presented here.Volume II is here.

West Virginia in History, Life, Lieterature and Industry is five volumes compiled by Morris Purdy Shawkey, B.A., M.A., Ped. D., and an Advisory Council. While Volumes I and II are not yet available click on the volume number for the other three. Volume III Volume IVVolume V

Maps

The David Ramsey Collection is a great place to check out maps, especially the 1804 map of Virginia.

In West Virginia and lots of other places, there were families who were listed in three different counties for three different censuses but never actually moved. Only the county boundaries changed. Visit this section of our site for an excellent guide to which county included a particular location on a particular date.

Obituaries

We have indexes to the obituaries published in the Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram beginning with 1994 and continuing through 2008. These obituaries have been painstakingly saved and placed in binders by Eva Newlon and are a great source of information available to our researchers. They have been indexed by Evelyn Rogers and other volunteers. There are a total of 35,157 names in the index. The indexes are listed according to the names of the deceased as they were published in the paper. You will notice that there are often two listings published on consecutive dates for the same individual. Traditionally, they were published in this manner, however sometimes the second obituary is a corrected copy when errors occurred in the first printing. We have listed both.

Lewis Countians in World War II lists all Lewis County, WV, persons who are known to have served in the Second World War. This is just the beginning of HCPD's effort to honor Central West Virginia veterans of allwars. Every Memorial Day since 2000, the Hacker's Creek Pioneer Descendants, Inc., and a cadre of volunteers have worked with American Legion Post #4 in Weston, WV, to place flags on thegraves of 3500 veterans known to be buried in the county. Some smaller cemeteries out in the rural areas are sometimes missed do to the lack of volunteers to place the flags.

Schools

This file of Lewis County schools and their teachers between 1873-1935 was typed for this site by Winnetta Kennedy.